Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Valuable Stats on Biking & Walking in U.S.: Obesity and sedentary lifestyles correlate

From the Planning Commissioners Journal:

The Alliance for Biking & Walking, with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has released a remarkably useful report for anyone interested in bike, pedestrian, public health, and traffic safety issues. Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2010 Benchmarking Report is available to download as a pdf file; you can also separately download the Executive Summary. The Report is replete with data. In fact, there's an almost overwhelming amount of data, covering a wide range of topics. But what's most important is how well organized and designed the report is -- and how easy-to-read the charts, maps, and graphics are (several are included below with permission of the Alliance). It's a pleasure to come across a document like this.

Isn't it odd, that, according to the maps below, more people walk and bike to work in northern states that experience winter and cold weather than do in the south?

 

Read the rest at: Valuable Stats on Biking & Walking in U.S. - Planning Commissioners Journal

The Predictable Outcome of Raising Fares and Cutting Services: Lower Ridership for Milwaukee County Transit

The Milwaukee journal Sentinel reports that county transit ridership has fallen 9%. This is a surprise?

From "Left on the Lake":

While the usual suburban suspects on right wing talk radio will no doubt giggle with glee over the numbers, the fact is that a strong mass transit system is critical to any metropolitan area just as it has been for the last 100 years.

So what makes Milwaukee unique in this area when other mass transit systems are seeing increased usage because of the recession? It’s simple, we’re cutting routes and raising fares. That’s a damaging combination to any service provider.

Read more at Left on the Lake.

Streetsblog Streetfilms: Seattle's new light rail

Transit done right. Milwaukee should have had this in place 15 years ago.

UPDATE: The Party of NO: Thanks to Republican Senator Jim Bunning, We Have NO More Federal Transportation Law, and That’s Bad

 

3/3/10 Update: Sanity prevails - Senate extends Highway Trust Fund; DOT employees back on the job Wednesday

From INFRASTRUCTURIST.

Here’s a rundown of what happened: Late last week, Republican Sen. Jim Bunning filibustered a bill to extend federal unemployment benefits, arguing that the government needed to add a provision stipulating how it would pay the $10 billion tab. As a result, the Transportation Department has announced it’s going to furlough 2,000 employees (though it could be double that) without pay — including people like federal inspectors that keep state construction projects going. The job cuts will come from the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration.

What else does this all mean? We’ll likely see a total shutdown of federal funding for road, bridge, bike-ped, and transit projects, since a short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund was attached to the dead bill. The government will also halt the processing of funds for stimulus construction work, which means the remainder of the ARRA money will sit gathering dust. And to top it all off, the federal spigot will be dry for state-based road safety groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).